**3.4 Structure of hair and cashmere fibers**

The staple of cashmere goat is made up of two parts of the outer coat (hair) and inner coat (cashmere). The hair is thicker and longer and has a medulla channel in the center of the fiber, protecting the animal against physical damages, while cashmere protects the animal from the cold. The cashmere fibers are similar to true wool, which is like a cylinder full of keratin. Three types of medulla have been recognized in hair: Continuous, no breaks in the medulla; interrupted, few short breaks; and fragmented, few parts of medulla visible. Characteristics of these three types of hair in mixed final products of hair should be studied. For more information see *Silk, Mohair, Cashmere and Other Luxury Fibers* edited by Franck [5].

**Figure 7.** *Istanbul Cashmere Bazaar – Price of each Shwal is nearly 300–500 US \$ - 2014 - Photo by seyed abbas rafat.*

### **Figure 8.**

*Jewelry Stores in Istanbul beside cashmere product stores. "Cashmere = Gold". The nick name of cashmere in this Bazaar is "white gold" – 2014 – Photo by Seyed Abbas rafat.*

### **Figure 9.**

*Left: SUSTAINABLE CASHMERE® HANDKNITTED SHAWL-: www.chianticashmere.com. Right: Cashmere fibers utilized for a traditional hat, Azerbaijan, Iran photo by: Abbas hüseynlu.*

**Figure 10.**

*"Trio" Follicle Groups of Cashmere Goat Skin, Raeini cashmere goat, Kerman, Iran. Rafat M Sc. Thesis.*

**91**

**Figure 11.**

**Figure 12.**

*New Look on an Ancient Fiber of Cashmere DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89814*

The growth of hair in the staple of cashmere goats occurs seasonally. That means cashmere, in general, takes 6 months to grow (anagen) and then enter the growth stop (telogen) with a middle stage of catagen. The shedding of cashmere from the body depends on some factors, such as the length of the day of photoperiod, nutrition, and the physiological state of the animal, and cashmere begins to grow from late spring, and in the winter it stops growing, and with the arrival of spring, cashmere is separated from the body until the next growth period begins. The large

*Inactive Secondary Follicles (s), Primary follicle (p) and sebaceous gland (B). Rafat M Sc. Thesis.*

*Follicle group in cashmere goat in cross section view. P = primary follicle. S = secondary follicle RAFAT M Sc. Thesis.*

Hair follicle or "small factory of keratin production" has an organized structure with the name of "trio group." Each group has normally between 1 and 3 first follicle and some secondary follicle (5–50). Primary follicles, sweat glands, sebaceous glands, and arrector pili muscle are other small organs within a trio group (**Figures 10–12**). By verifying the structure of skin in histological studies, we can distinguish some

variation of shedding time exists among and between breeds.

*Goats (Capra) - From Ancient to Modern*

*this Bazaar is "white gold" – 2014 – Photo by Seyed Abbas rafat.*

**90**

**Figure 10.**

**Figure 8.**

**Figure 9.**

*"Trio" Follicle Groups of Cashmere Goat Skin, Raeini cashmere goat, Kerman, Iran. Rafat M Sc. Thesis.*

*Jewelry Stores in Istanbul beside cashmere product stores. "Cashmere = Gold". The nick name of cashmere in* 

*Left: SUSTAINABLE CASHMERE® HANDKNITTED SHAWL-: www.chianticashmere.com. Right:* 

*Cashmere fibers utilized for a traditional hat, Azerbaijan, Iran photo by: Abbas hüseynlu.*

**Figure 11.** *Follicle group in cashmere goat in cross section view. P = primary follicle. S = secondary follicle RAFAT M Sc. Thesis.*

**Figure 12.** *Inactive Secondary Follicles (s), Primary follicle (p) and sebaceous gland (B). Rafat M Sc. Thesis.*

The growth of hair in the staple of cashmere goats occurs seasonally. That means cashmere, in general, takes 6 months to grow (anagen) and then enter the growth stop (telogen) with a middle stage of catagen. The shedding of cashmere from the body depends on some factors, such as the length of the day of photoperiod, nutrition, and the physiological state of the animal, and cashmere begins to grow from late spring, and in the winter it stops growing, and with the arrival of spring, cashmere is separated from the body until the next growth period begins. The large variation of shedding time exists among and between breeds.

Hair follicle or "small factory of keratin production" has an organized structure with the name of "trio group." Each group has normally between 1 and 3 first follicle and some secondary follicle (5–50). Primary follicles, sweat glands, sebaceous glands, and arrector pili muscle are other small organs within a trio group (**Figures 10–12**). By verifying the structure of skin in histological studies, we can distinguish some

traits of follicles, e.g., secondary to primary ratio, percentage of inactive secondary follicles, diameter of follicles and density of follicles per surface of skin.
